Those of you who share my enthusiasm for British social history may well have come across the Reverend Sydney Smith (1771-1845), a noted man of letters. If you haven’t, look him up in a dictionary of quotations, you’ll find much wit and wisdom.

One quotation I remember reading many decades ago was “I have no relish for the country; it is a kind of healthy grave”, and, having always lived in cities, I smiled, nodded and inwardly said “Yes!”.

Then I thought, hang on a bit – didn’t I have great summer holidays in rural Cornwall and North Wales in recent years? And how about all those bike rides to Epping Forest I enjoyed as a child? And all the time I spent in public parks, a great Victorian innovation that brought bit of country into British cities? And if I have no relish for the country, why am I so enthusiastic about nights out at country pubs?

Now older and hopefully wiser, I realise that bringing a bit of country in my suburban life is not just enjoyable, it is profoundly good for my mental health. (The fact that I can barely tell an oak from a larch or a sparrow from a blackbird doesn’t make this any less true.)  I suspect I’m not the only Moodscoper who knows this.   

Oldie but Goldie

A Moodscope member